Finally, a troll informed me this week that Massively OP is nothing more than a pile of Kickstarter propaganda and some WoW and GW2 columns, so if you happened to read the 120 or editorials, streams, and articles we published this week that aren’t related to crowdfunding, good news, you imagined all that!

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the weekly roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.

Remember last week when Crate Entertainment teased something really big for OARPG Grim Dawn? That announcement is now here, and as you probably predicted, it’s a brand-new expansion. As you probably didn’t predict, it’s called Forgotten Gods. If you did predict that too, you should probably go play the lottery or something.

“In the Forgotten Gods expansion, players will journey beyond the bounds of the Erulan Empire, traversing burning sands, lush oases and volcanic wastes to reach the sun beaten ruins of a city with secrets that should never have been disturbed. The flames of a forgotten god have been rekindled, sending ripples through the Eldritch realm and sowing terror even among the Witch Gods themselves.”

Crate is promising “a thrilling new chapter in Grim Dawn’s story, a new gameplay mode, quality of life features, hundreds of new unique items and more” in a “densely packed new addition” that just so happens to already be “well underway” in development. Launch is expected in the bottom half of 2018. And yes, the devs are still working on the Xbox One port, “which is coming posthaste.”

Patch 1.0.5.0 rolled out to OARPG Grim Dawn last week, and it’s a pretty big one headlined by a brand-new Ancient Grove dungeon in the wilds of Ashes of Malmouth, complete with unique relics.

“A new roguelike dungeon: the Ancient Grove, has been added in Ugdenbog. Once the haven of the beast god Mogdrogen, this sacred place has become tainted by the corrupting presence of the Aetherials and the Chthonians. Venture inside and face off against grave new dangers, and powerful unique rewards. Featured within the Ancient Grove are 4 new Monster Infrequents, 2 new Unique items and a new Mythical Relic Blueprint for you to hunt down from its 6 new bosses and mini-bosses, including one special spawn that appears only on Ultimate difficulty!”

The update further tweaked chest loot tables, attempted a balancing pass in Crucible, and slipped in a ton of itemization changes.

Another December, another Steam sale to entice you to spend money on games you don’t have time to play just to have them for a rainy day! Here’s a quick look at what’s on the list for MMO and survival sandbox players.

Step aside, turkey and fambly rage: It’s time to buy stuff. Because we don’t already unload our wallets the rest of the year on MMOs! Oh wait, yes we do. In any case, here’s a quick roundup of all the best MMO Black Friday 2017 sales on Steam and elsewhere.

This week in MMO crowdfunding, the Shadow’s Kiss devs must be stoked beyond belief, as not only has their Kickstarter reached its goal but it’s almost to double now with three weeks remaining. Thus far, backers of the indie vampire fantasy MMORPG have unlocked stretch goals including a crafting systems, ritual magic system, and some sort of tenebrous tentacles thing, with narration and music on the way when they break the $50,000 mark.

“This patch will address many reported issues, whether that’s concerning loot, questing, items or otherwise,” the studio told players yesterday. “It will also bring with it some overall balance adjustments and improvements to the new Components introduced in Ashes of Malmouth.”

This week in MMO crowdfunding, the much-anticipated indie sci-fi sandbox Dual Universe dropped a starship-load of tutorials on ship construction, the interface, territory, and more. They’re aimed at folks in the pre-alpha, another weekend of which kick off earlier today – it’s a nice chunk of backers, if the activity graph posted to Twitter earlier is any judge. (Cheers, Cotic!)

“Ashes of Malmouth picks up where Grim Dawn leaves off, expanding the world and story with two new chapters in the epic struggle to free humankind from the horrors of the Aetherials. Deep within the fallen city of Malmouth, the Shaper of Flesh crafts grotesque living weapons that could deal a final blow to the human resistance. You must forge new alliances as you push forward through deep forest, the void and into the city itself in a heroic effort to end the Aetherial terror. Venture into dangerous new parts of the world as you discover unique items, empower your characters and make difficult choices that have a lasting impact on the people of Cairn.”

As previously covered, the expansion includes a level cap bump to 100, the Inquisitor and Necromancer masteries, two new story chapters, cosmetic gear system, new factions, new environments, new items, and a bigger stash. Crate’s said it’ll launch as “Rogue-Like Dungeon” coming in a freebie update to follow the expansion too. Trailers below!

As previously covered, this is a buy-to-play game, so the expansion will run $17.99. Crate says the expansion is “absolutely massive,” about half of the size of the original base game. Expect a level cap bump to 100, the Inquisitor and Necromancer masteries, two new story chapters, cosmetic gear system, new factions, new environments, new items, and a bigger stash. There’s a “Rogue-Like Dungeon” coming in a freebie update to follow the expansion too.

This week in MMO crowdfunding, HEX announced it is officially coming to PS4 on September 9th under a hybrid HEX: Card Clash moniker, which “marries the PC version you know and love with an all-new and improved PS4tm client” and allows gamers to “play seamlessly with players from both clients, and compete for weekly cash prizes.” Says the studio,

“Ever since our Kickstarter, we knew there was the desire to curl up on the couch with a nice game of HEX. We originally envisioned this as tablet support, but as HEX evolved it became clear that there were still some significant hurdles to making that a reality. From both a coding and a UI perspective, HEX requires some significant magic to faithfully reproduce the PC experience you know and love in a different medium. While we are absolutely still planning to come to tablet, we began to wonder if we couldn’t get you couch conquerors HEX just a little bit sooner.”

Meanwhile, Shroud of the Avatar launched R45, Crowfall players put together a crafting calculator, Valiance Online streamed its alpha, Grim Dawn released gameplay of its upcoming Necro class, Ashes of Creation pegged December for its “alpha zero,” and Camelot Unchained said it’s overdelivering on tech. (Thanks, Zophie!) Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last couple of weeks and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.

“What this means is that people outside of the dev team are seeing the expansion’s content/additions for the first time and providing us with bug reports and feedback. This is a critical step in the development process as we strive to clear out major issues/concerns before the expansion is released to the general public. At this time, the playtesters have access to roughly 50% of the expansion’s content and the leveling experience for the Necromancer and Inquisitor masteries. There’s still much to do and much to be tested, but so far things are going smoothly. We are nearing the end of the line!”

Crate Entertainment’s post is otherwise slim on details like names and dates, but the studio does note that the expansion will include 63 “monster infrequents,” which are basically rare drops.

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Star Citizen released a new cinematic trailer featuring characters checking out derelict ships in-game, both on the surface and in space. Note the scope of the vessels, voiceovers, music, and female toons (finally!), not to mention the distinct Star Wars/Jakku vibe and Firefly inspiration.